The terrific slideshow sharing site, Slideshare, has just named top winners in its World’s Best Presentation Contest, as judged by “four industry luminaries: Guy Kawasaki, Nancy Duarte, Garr Reynolds, and Bert Decker.”

In my book, a presentation would have to tell a story to be considered the world’s best. Here’s how the top 3 shake out, in my opinion, in terms of story:

1. THIRST by Jeff Brenman: Beautifully done, but to me, this one looks like the usual facts and stats. Maybe it’s more of a story with narration.
2. Foot Notes by Melanie Kahl: Again, beautifully done and looks even more like it would be a story or contain stories if it were narrated.
3. Zimbabwe in Crisis by Daniel Hrstich: Now, this one is a story. I would have put this one on top.

Do you think these are the World’s Best Presentations? If a slideshow doesn’t stand on its on and tell a story without narration, is it the World’s Best? (I will also admit that my own attempt at a slideshow this year didn’t work as a story without narration).

Discuss.

I should add that the category winner in business was by ethos 3, the folks whose entire thrust is storytelling in presentations. Their presentation, a fast-moving, narrated collection of mini-stories is a tutorial on telling stories in presentations: